


Assassin's Creed: Sensibility

by Hogmisty



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassin's Creed Fusion, Alternate Universe - Jane Austen Fusion, Assassination, Assassins vs. Templars, Deception, Gen, Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:54:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25166515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hogmisty/pseuds/Hogmisty
Summary: Elizabeth Augusta De Ferriere is young, beautiful and lamentably unmarried. Her mother decided to hold a grand party in an attempt to help her daughter meet an eligible bachelor to wed, but young Elizabeth has ulterior motives for attending...Set in early 1800s England, this story is a combination of the Assassin's Creed series with the setting and tone of a Jane Austen novel.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Assassin's Creed: Sensibility

The party was a true success, abounding with laughter and merriment. Dancers twirled in the hall and revellers played games in the parlour. The fireplace crackled in front of comfortable armchairs in which sat the gentlemen who were more generous in age. They enjoyed port and cigars in a contented quietude before their rosy-cheeked wives came along take them back to the dance floor for another waltz. They would surely acquiesce to their beloveds with mock-grumpiness, a well hidden boy-like playfulness twinkling in their eyes which only their wives would know well enough to perceive.

Many a young couple took a turn strolling in the fresh night air of the garden, admiring the roses and hedgerows. But amongst all the sets of youthful paramours there was one young woman who opted for isolation, though she would see it as blessed solitude.

Her name was Elizabeth Augusta De Ferriere, second-eldest child of the De Ferriere family, one of four daughters who were all lamentably unmarried. Well, lamentable to all but Elizabeth who found the men who had approached the household to be stuffy, puffed up and terribly, terribly dull. New-money industrialists who sought prestige to match their wealth and penniless peers who sought wealth to match their prestige.

She sat in a quiet hollow of the garden, a place dear to her heart since girlhood as a bastion of blessed peace where she could read or contemplate in peace. She contemplated now, though her thoughts were not of peace any more.

The party had been the idea of her mother, a kind and well-meaning woman whom Elizabeth loved dearly. But oh how she loved to meddle and poke at Elizabeth's love life or lack thereof. The party was supposedly orchestrated in aid of finding a suitable match for Elizabeth's elder sister Frederique, but more than this it served as a means of assisting the reticent and seemingly shy Elizabeth in socialising with eligible bachelors. In truth, Maria De Ferriere would have seen all four of her daughters wed through this function if she could have managed it.

Elizabeth's mother did so worry about her second daughter, who spent more time alone with her books than with other people. The word "spinster" squatted in her mind like a spider in the corner of a room when she thought of her daughter's reluctance to marry for any reason less than love. She could not begrudge her daughter this, for she herself was blessed with a loving marriage to a kind and gentle soul in George De Ferriere, but she worried nonetheless.

It is for this reason that she had been utterly thrilled when Elizabeth had shown the same enthusiasm as her sisters when Mrs. De Ferriere had announced that they would be having this party to celebrate Mr. De Ferriere's 50th birthday. Elizabeth had even helped arrange the guest list for the get-together. Maria's eyes watered when the thought occurred that her daughter might finally be ready to come out of her shell and into the spotlight.

The guest list... This was what Elizabeth's mind was upon in her hideaway in the garden. She had mingled and laughed and made very small talk indeed but soon would be the time for action. She thought of Captain Collinsforth and his advice to bolster her determination. Elizabeth took a deep breath and stirred herself to move back to the party.

As she approached her home, the roar of mirth grew louder and the golden light of her father's birthday party spilled out into the deep blue chill of the night. She stepped back inside and scanned the crowds. She observed the party-goers, some throwing their heads back in boisterous laughter whilst others smiled through polite facades of the kind that she herself was accustomed to wearing. Eventually she found her man.

Though his clothes suggested a fop or dandy, his face was that of a cad and a bounder. He was a young man of roguish good looks and charm, surrounded by a crowd of his young fellows and simpering young ladies. His curly auburn hair was just a little unkempt and his sideburns served to highlight his strong jaw. His grin was wolfish and his hazel eyes keen. His name was Sebastian Winstanley. She knew this for she was the one who had added his name to the guest-list.

Elizabeth made her way over. She checked her reflection to make sure no stray leaves had fallen into the ringlets of her hair but resisted the urge to preen and fuss over herself beyond this. Rather, she forced her uncertainty to give way to confidence. Elizabeth was a radiant creature, the belle of this ball, a beauty who now wandered over to her tame her beast.

As she approached, Sebastian's eyes widened and his smirk softened into a charming grin.

"Good evening Miss De Ferriere." He said, bowing. She held her gloved hand out for him to kiss as she replied "Good evening Mr. Winstanley. I hope the evening finds you well."

"I find it most agreeable." He said, gesturing around the room. "Your mother is a truly magnificent hostess, what a wonderful party this is."

Elizabeth smiled at him, a broad and inviting grin which crinkled the corners of her eyes just slightly, but was not so wide as to seem disingenuous. She had practised this smile before the mirror every morning for weeks.

"Wonderful, I'm so happy you're enjoying our hospitality. I myself find I'm a little overwhelmed by the festivities. I was hoping you might escort me through the gardens whilst I take the night air..."

She ignored the glares of Sebastian's lady friends as he stepped forward, gallantly offering Elizabeth his arm.

"It would be my pleasure Miss De Ferriere."

The two began their leisurely stroll out into the dark. Though it was Sebastian who had offered his arm to Elizabeth, it was her who subtly steered him, guiding him along to where she wanted them to be as the two chatted nonchalantly.

He was a smooth-talker this man, the kind of fellow whose looks and charm would take him very far indeed so long as he manoeuvred himself into the right places with the right people. The world would be his oyster, with little beyond his reach. He was the kind who could amass very potent, very quiet power if he was left unchecked. But he was not the kind of man who _should_ amass such power.

After a few minutes, their unhurried stroll had taken them over to a secluded spot in the garden. She knew all the places to be where unwanted gazes would not fall upon them. The two stopped, looking up into clear night sky. The stars and their constellations told all manner of tale and the moon was a sharp, picturesque crescent, a shining sickle.

Elizabeth exhaled, then coyly leaned into her young beau.

"Isn't is beautiful tonight, Sebastian...?" She asked, before feigning a little gasp and raising her hand to her mouth. "I'm sorry, you must think me so forward, speaking to you with such familiarity after only having met you a few minutes ago."

Sebastian let out a laugh. Not an unkind, mocking laughter, but a gentle chortle of genuine elation. He smiled and placed one hand gently on her upper arm.

"Please, do call me Sebastian. Perhaps I might call you Elizabeth in turn...?"

Elizabeth cocked her head shyly.

"I would like that very much. You must forgive me, I've met so few young men who are so... So handsome. So worldly. Most around here are bores or boors."

As he laughed at her small pun she moved in closer to him, coyly placing her hands upon his chest. He smiled down at her, pale and beautiful in the moonlight, and moved his hands to her shoulders pulling her close to him. Their eyes drew closed as they moved closer to one another, their lips almost locked together...

A quiet mechanism whirred, eliciting a soft grunt of pain.

Elizabeth stepped back from Sebastian who seemed unable to move, caught midway through the motion of leaning down to kiss her. He was frozen in a hunched position, a confused look plastered upon his face as though he could not fathom what had just happened.

Elizabeth produced a handkerchief from upon her person. After inspecting the hidden blade strapped to her arm, concealed beneath her party-goer's finery, she wiped it clean of blood which blended in with the scarlet fabric of the handkerchief before retracting the blade, hiding it from sight once more.

As she did this it was though reality finally caught up with Sebastian who keeled over, hitting the ground with a thump which caused the air to escape from his lungs raggedly.

Elizabeth moved over to his form, cradling his head in her hands. The world seemed to melt away until it was just the two of them, a dying man being held by his killer. He looked up at her with those hazel eyes of his. The swagger and charm he'd exhibited just moments ago had left him completely along with his lifeblood which spread out now over his chest in a dark stain.

"Elizabeth... Why...?"

"Oh, Sebastian. I know who you are. I know what kind of company you keep, Templar, and what you might have become. So much potential wasted."

"Templar... But how... No... You're an Assassin!?" His eyes were wide with disbelief.

"Yes my dear, I am. Go now to your Father of Understanding, tell him you did the best you could before you were cut down. Rest in peace."

Sebastian continued to gaze at her, shock plastered upon his face. Even after the life had fully left him he seemed surprised.

Elizabeth stood and inspected herself. No stray drops of blood had marred her outfit, that was good. Captain Collinsforth had told her that the difference between some common murderer for hire and a true Assassin was killing and killing _cleanly_.

Another aspect was blending in with the crowd, hiding and disguising oneself, the art of seeming one way and being another. Elizabeth had been very talented in this regard even before she'd met the old Captain and learned of the ancient war between Assassins and Templars. She would display these skills again before the night was over.

She looked down at the body and smiled. She did not smile because she had hated Sebastian. Her pity for him in his final moments was no falsehood. She smiled for herself, smiled because she had found agency and purpose.

Her mother was right, she was coming out of her shell and in a most unexpected fashion to boot.

She regained her composure after a moment. Whilst it was fine to appreciate a job well done, it simply wouldn't do to linger over a cadaver whilst grinning like a child in a sweet-shop. She looked around to be certain the act had gone unnoticed. The entire assassination must have taken no longer than half a minute but it had felt like much longer.

Now for the final part of her plan, the part she found most distasteful but which would help cement her as the witness of a crime rather than the perpetrator. She sighed and took a deep breath before letting out a long, loud, blood-curdling scream. A scream of true terror. The scream a young lady might make after her young beau was murdered right before her very eyes. It was a very convincing performance.

Elizabeth hiked up her skirts and sprinted back to her father's birthday party, screaming bloody murder all the while, leaving behind her jilted would-be lover's body in the garden to gaze up at the uncaring moon.


End file.
